By Jonathan Lois
The House of Representatives on Thursday urged the Federal Government to establish the Ministry of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Marine Resources.
This, the House said, is to regulate fisheries and aquaculture sector, formulate plans, strategies, policies and programmes for fisheries development to guide fisheries economic reform.
It mandated the Committee on Agricultural Production and Services and Legislative Compliance to ensure implementation.
The resolutions followed a motion “Call for Establishment of Ministry of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Marine Resources” sponsored by Hon. Awaji –Inombek D. Abiante.
The House said despite having a coastline of 853 kilometers bordering the Atlantic Ocean, as well as fresh and mangrove swamps, creeks, coastal rivers, estuaries, bays, and near and offshore waters with the capacity to feed the entire country and export, Nigeria is and has remained the fourth largest importer of fish in the world for its teaming population of over 200 million people.
It noted that the 2016 Nigeria Fisheries Statistics report puts the annual fish demand at an estimated 3.32 million metric tons and domestic production at about 1.12 million metric tons, while the 2018 World
Bank report puts Nigeria’s annual fish demand at about 3.4 million metric tons, and domestic production at 1.17 million metric tons.
These, it said, leave a deficit of 2.2 million metric tons in 2016, and a deficit of 2.23 million metric tons in the 2018 report, thus domestic production in Nigeria only meets
about 40% of the demand for fish.
This deficit is responsible for the over $1.2billion loss of revenue through the importation of fish and fishery products during the aforementioned years, the House said.
The House also noted that to fully meet the wholesome demand of Nigerians for fish, the country spent about N500 billion on fish import between January and November 2021 according to The Nation Newspaper, December 20, 2021.
It said findings according to the newspaper also revealed that Nigeria imported over N1 trillion ($2.06billion) of fish from major nine countries between 2019 and 2021, thus taking a toll on the Country’s foreign exchange and negatively affecting the Country’s GDP.
It further noted that Fisheries is a major economic sector, estimated to employ over 8.6 million people directly and a further 19.6 million indirectly, 70 per cent of whom are women.
The House said owing to recent significant investments of private capital and a renewed political will to empower the private sector in
the area of aquaculture development, Nigeria is the largest aquaculture producer in Sub-Saharan Africa and this importance is steadily increasing, hence the need to sustain the momentum through the
Establishment of a government agency for the sector (Fishery).
The motion reads, “The House observes that the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Development is perpetually underfunded and poorly administered and receives less than 9% of the budget for the Ministry.
“This puts the development of the sector in a state of jeopardy; a sector that has
so much potential in creating employment, providing food security and generating foreign exchange for the government – the focal points of the Economic Recovery Plan of the Federal Government for the Post- Pandemic Phase of reviving the economy.
“The House is aware that the volume of global trade in the aquaculture value chain is more than $200 billion and that the Fisheries Departments in the top ten leading aquaculture countries like China, Japan, Norway, Egypt, Morocco and Namibia have more or less created exclusive entities for fisheries or autonomous Bureau of Fisheries.
“The House believes that Nigeria can set an ambitious goal of becoming a leading country in fisheries and aquaculture in Sub-Sahara Africa; specifically in the productive development of its coastal marine
environment by taking a more serious interest in the development of its fisheries and aquaculture sector and providing equitable funding, incentivize the over 1 million indigenous artisanal fishermen and
small-scale fish farmers using old equipment and outdated practices and scale them up into a diverse set of industrial fisheries practices using modern technologies for the growth and sustainability of
fisheries and aquaculture.
“The House submits that to reduce unemployment through fishery/fish farming, and boost fish production to stop
importation and enhance exportation of fish and fish products, thus increasing the Country’s foreign exchange earnings, there is an urgent need for the Establishment of a Ministry of Fisheries, Aquaculture
and Marine Resources.
“The House also believes that establishing a separate Ministry to drive this sector will not only save Nigeria the excess of $2.06billion yearly but create employment opportunities for local fish farmers and other stakeholders in the value chain to thrive, boost international trade, increase foreign exchange and revenue generation for the country.”
